After a ten and a half hour flight on a very nice Dreamliner – on which we didn’t get enough sleep to even get close to dreaming… ๐ ย and on which we flew right over Kalimantan,ย we arrived at 6.30am in Singapore.
After checking in at the hotel we went exploring although of course there was not much happening at 7am on a Sunday morning!
We wandered to the old area of town quite by accident, a perfect accident!
They have large Myna birds here. ๐
We came across a wedding party having their photos taken on a bridge. Prepare yourselves Cathy, Steve, Levi and Rachel, because this was part of their wedding party:
Then we saw this sculpture where someone had added something a bit more modern; totally a Stephen Woods type of thing to do:
I loved the combination of the new and old in Singapore. It is a delightful mixture of yesterday and tomorrow, the past and the future.
Here’s a shot of “the past” which reminded me very much of Pontianakย in Borneo:
The old and the new seem to be juxtaposed everywhere you look here.
Mike found some fresh fish and crabs for breakfast (NO we did not indulge!)
Here the old (on the right) is positively dwarfed by the new:
We saw this guy giving his small albino python (ular sawa)ย a wash under a tap:
As soon as it was 10am we went into the Asian Civilisations Museum. It was fascinating. First we visited the Tang Shipwreck where in 1998 they found the shipwreck from the 9th century, full of ceramics, gold and silver objects:
The workmanship was just exquisite. And there were so many, many bowls!
The treasures in this museum were amazing. A must-see for anyone visiting Singapore! This desk is made of carved ivory:
But I must move on as we didn’t spend all day there. ๐
The National Gallery looks amazing, especially with the flying saucer behind it.
Then we went into a mall and had some lunch and did NOT eat durian. Check out the price:
And yes, we could smell it before we saw it. ๐ No plastic is good enough to keep that smell at bay.
We made our way over to the Gardens by the Bay, enjoying the scenery on the way. This building on the left (a hotel) is just amazing, both inside and out.
Those are doors to rooms in the hotel on the left and right.
It wasn’t easy to work out how to walk there so we asked for directions and this family (Tommy and Chang Mi) kindly offered to show us where to go as they were walking in that direction too:
Such a big help, we enjoyed our brief time with them, they are both civil engineers. The architecture and engineering in Singapore is quite stunning. We have both been impressed. Very impressed.
And so we arrived at the Gardens.
Hello Avatar. ๐
We went into the Cloud Dome first.
So many beautiful orchids and other tropical flowers…
Quite an amazing experience!
I would describe it as like a theme park but with things that are REAL instead of fake because it is all real plants and trees.
There were a lot of these very interesting “sculptures” made of driftwood throughout the domes:
Almost the end of day one!
Time for some food. Satays for 70 cents each. ๐
Beautiful spot to look back at the city:
Then the finale of the day at the gardens, the light show.
And back to the hotel. Thus endeth day one. ๐
Wow…. great architecture. Very amazing gardens too. To get the full effect it’s best to be there in the flesh though, I’m thinking. Why should durians be so expensive to buy there? I have seen them in Auckland at an Asian market for less than $20 and they have been imported! How hot is it there? The gardens would be like being in a sauna surely.
It must not be durian season, that’s the only conclusion I can come to with regard to the price! The temperature is 31. But air-conditioning is everywhere except outside. Ha! The garden domes were fully air-conditioned and much cooler than being outside. We were pretty hot by the time we got there as we walked from our hotel.
Hi Mike and Lynete,
Beautiful pictures , which apparently you took, Lynette, because I only saw you in one picture from far away ! Maybe a close-up one of you before I see you in the Netherlands soon? Looking forward to having you both! Have fun and enjoy!
Thanks, and yes, I’m usually the one behind the camera and not in front of it. ๐ I’ll have to try doing a selfie somewhere!
Looks like fun. We look forward to seeing more!Dad.
Did I miss something? Are you and your husband traveling the world? How long will you be doing this? I subscribed by RSS feed to follow you on your adventures.
Tight hug, with a Blessing!
Ha, and no, you missed nothing. ๐ And yes, we’re out and about for six weeks!